How #JeSuisCharlie featured on social media
MISA HAN
Last updated 15:45, January 11 2015

PROLIFIC OUTPOURING: Tweets regarding the Charlie Hebdo attacks lit up social media in the last three days.

Twitter has revealed over five million #JeSuisCharlie tweets have emerged over three days, making the Charlie Hebdo attacks one of the most prominent tragedies on social media.

The al-Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks unfolded over the three days with 12 people shot dead at satirical newspaper Hebdo on Wednesday, a policewoman killed on Thursday and three gunmen and four hostages killed in two separate sieges.

This makes the Charlie Hebdo attacks one of the most tweeted tragedies. Last month, #sydneysiege - the main hashtag used for the gunman siege at Sydney's Lindt Cafe - generated over one million tweets over two days.

#illridewithyou, which was used to show Australians' support for the Muslim community, clocked up close to half a million tweets.

Social media featured prominently during the three days of terror with both sides using social media platforms. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg used #JeSuisCharlie to note Facebook would not ban certain content.

"A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban content about Mohammed that offended him," he wrote.

"Yet as I reflect on yesterday's attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject - a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world.

"I won't let that happen on Facebook."

In the meantime, Associated Press reported a branch of al-Qaeda in Yemen senior cleric Sheikh Harith al-Nadhari issued a recording on the group's Twitter feed attacking the "filthy" French and praising the gunmen who he said "taught them a lesson an the limits of freedom of speech".

World leaders gather in Paris and begin their "unity march" along the city's streets, joining crowds in a show of solidarity against militant violence that shook the nation.

Masses of people joined with world leaders to fill Paris streets overnight (NZT) in a rally for unity that officials said was the largest demonstration in French history.

Hundreds of thousands more marched in cities around the country and the world to repudiate a three-day terror spree around the French capital that killed 17 people and left the three gunmen dead.

Their arms linked, more than 40 world leaders headed the somber procession - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov - setting aside their differences for a demonstration that French President Francois Hollande said turned the city into "the capital of the world."

MARCH: Hundreds of thousands march on the streets of Paris to honour victims of terror attacks following shootings at newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Millions of people streamed through the streets behind them to mourn the victims of deadly attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher supermarket and police officers - violence that tore deep into France's sense of wellbeing in a way some compared to the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Details of the attacks continued to emerge, with new video showing one of the gunmen pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and detailing how the attacks were going to unfold.

Dan Kitwood

SOLIDARITY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) joined French President Francois Hollande and other world leaders for Sunday's unity march through Paris.

That gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, was also linked to a new shooting, two days after he and the brothers behind the massacre at Charlie Hebdo were killed in nearly simultaneous police raids.

The attacks tested France's proud commitment to its liberties - liberties that authorities may now curtail to ensure greater security. Marchers recognised this as a watershed moment.

"It's a different world today," said Michel Thiebault, 70.

Illustrating his point, crowds cheered police vans as they wove through the crowds - a rare sight at the many demonstrations that Parisians have staged throughout their rebellious history, when protesters and police are often at odds.

Many shed the aloof attitude Parisians are famous for, helping strangers with directions, cheering and crying together. Sad and angry but fiercely defending their freedom of expression, the marchers mourned the dead and brandished pens and flags from around the world.

Giant rallies were held throughout France and major cities around the world, including London, Madrid and New York - all attacked by al-Qaeda-linked extremists - as well as Cairo, Sydney, Stockholm, Tokyo and elsewhere.

In Paris, the Interior Ministry said, "the size of this unprecedented demonstration makes it impossible to provide a specific count," noting that the crowds were too big to fit on the official march route and spread out into other streets.

Later, the ministry said 3.7 million marched throughout France, including roughly between 1.2 and 1.6 million in Paris, but said a precise account is impossible given the enormity of the turnout.

French news media estimated up to 3 million people took part in the Paris march - more than the numbers who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.

"I hope that at the end of the day everyone is united. Everyone - Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists," said marcher Zakaria Moumni. "We are humans first of all, and nobody deserves to be murdered like that. Nobody."

On Paris' Republic Square, deafening applause rang out as the world leaders walked past, amid tight security and an atmosphere of togetherness amid adversity.

Families of the victims, holding each other for support, marched in the front along with the leaders and with journalists working for the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. Several wept openly.

"I Am Charlie," read legions of posters and banners. Many waved editorial cartoons, the French tricolor and other national flags.

The leaders marched down Voltaire Boulevard - named after the Enlightenment-era figure who symbolizes France's attachment to freedom of expression.

One marcher bore a banner with Voltaire's famed pledge: "I do not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it."

The French president joined Netanyahu in a visit to a synagogue on Sunday night (local time) as French authorities sought to reassure the Jewish population - Europe's largest - that it is safe to stay in France. Seven thousand of France's half-million Jews emigrated to Israel last year amid concerns for their safety and the economy.

As night fell on the unusually unified city, some lit candles.

"It's important to be here for freedom for tolerance and for all the victims. It's sad we had to get to this point for people to react against intolerance, racism and fascism," said Caroline Van Ruymbeke, 32.

At an international conference in India, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the world stood with the people of France "not just in anger and in outrage, but in solidarity and commitment to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause that extremists fear so much and that has always united our countries: freedom."

The three days of terror began on Wednesday when brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people including two police officers.

Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen said it directed the attack to avenge the honour of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly's satire. Charlie Hebdo assailed Christianity, Judaism as well as officialdom of all stripes with its brand of sometimes crude satire.

On Thursday, police said Coulibaly killed a policewoman and the next day he seized hostages at a kosher store in Paris while the Kouachi brothers were in a standoff with police at a printing plant near Charles de Gaulle airport. It all ended at dusk on Friday with raids that left all three gunmen dead. Four hostages at the market were also killed.

Five people held in connection with the attacks were freed late on Saturday, leaving no one in custody, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. Coulibaly's widow, last seen near the Turkish-Syrian border, is still being sought.

France remains on high alert while investigators determine whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network. More than 5500 police and soldiers were deployed on Sunday across France, guarding marches, synagogues, mosques, schools and other sites.

"The terrorists want two things: they want to scare us and they want to divide us," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told TV channel iTele. "We must do the opposite: We must stand up and we must stay united."

DISSENTING VOICES

Seventeen people, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the weekly Charlie Hebdo known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions as well as politicians. It ended on Friday with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages and the gunman were killed.

Hours before the march, a video emerged featuring a man resembling the gunman killed in the kosher deli. He pledged allegiance to the Islamic State insurgent group and urged French Muslims to follow his example.

"We're not going to let a little gang of hoodlums run our lives," said Fanny Appelbaum, 75, who said she lost two sisters and a brother in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz‎. "Today, we are all one."

Zakaria Moumni, a 34-year-old Franco-Moroccan draped in the French flag, agreed: "I am here to show the terrorists they have not won - it is bringing people together of all religions."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi were among 44 foreign leaders marching with Hollande. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu - who earlier encouraged French Jews to emigrate to Israel - and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were also present.

Immediately to Hollande's left, walked Merkel and to his right Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. France intervened to help fight Islamist rebels there two years ago to the day.

In a rare public display of emotion by two major-power leaders, cameras showed Hollande embracing Merkel, her eyes shut and forehead resting on his cheek, on the steps of the Elysee before they headed off to march.

After world leaders left the march, Hollande stayed to greet survivors of the Charlie Hebdo attack and their families.

While there has been widespread solidarity with the victims, there have been dissenting voices. French social media have carried comments from those uneasy with the "Je suis Charlie" slogan interpreted as freedom of expression at all cost. Others suggest there was hypocrisy in world leaders whose countries have repressive media laws attending the march.

The head of France's 550,000-strong Jewish community, Roger Cukierman, the largest in Europe, said Hollande had promised that Jewish schools and synagogues would have extra protection, by the army if necessary, after the killings.

Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, whom analysts see receiving a boost in the polls due to the attacks, said her anti-immigrant party had been excluded from the Paris demonstration and would instead take part in regional marches.

In Germany, a rally against racism and xenophobia on Saturday drew tens of thousands of people in the eastern German city of Dresden, which has become the centre of anti-immigration protests organised by a new grassroots movement called PEGIDA.

A building of the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, which like many other publications has reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons, was the target of an arson attack and two suspects were arrested, police said on Sunday.

Twelve people were killed in Wednesday's initial attack on Charlie Hebdo, a journal know for satirizing religions and politicians. The attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the weekly for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.

Turkish and French sources said a woman hunted by French police as a suspect in the attacks had left France several days before the killings and is believed to be in Syria.

French police had launched in an intensive search for Hayat Boumeddiene, the 26-year-old partner of one of the attackers, describing her as "armed and dangerous".

DISSENTING VOICES

Seventeen people, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the weekly Charlie Hebdo known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions as well as politicians. It ended on Friday with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages and the gunman were killed.

Hours before the march, a video emerged featuring a man resembling the gunman killed in the kosher deli. He pledged allegiance to the Islamic State insurgent group and urged French Muslims to follow his example.

"We're not going to let a little gang of hoodlums run our lives," said Fanny Appelbaum, 75, who said she lost two sisters and a brother in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz‎. "Today, we are all one."

Zakaria Moumni, a 34-year-old Franco-Moroccan draped in the French flag, agreed: "I am here to show the terrorists they have not won - it is bringing people together of all religions."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi were among 44 foreign leaders marching with Hollande. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu - who earlier encouraged French Jews to emigrate to Israel - and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were also present.

Immediately to Hollande's left, walked Merkel and to his right Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. France intervened to help fight Islamist rebels there two years ago to the day.

In a rare public display of emotion by two major-power leaders, cameras showed Hollande embracing Merkel, her eyes shut and forehead resting on his cheek, on the steps of the Elysee before they headed off to march.

After world leaders left the march, Hollande stayed to greet survivors of the Charlie Hebdo attack and their families.

While there has been widespread solidarity with the victims, there have been dissenting voices. French social media have carried comments from those uneasy with the "Je suis Charlie" slogan interpreted as freedom of expression at all cost. Others suggest there was hypocrisy in world leaders whose countries have repressive media laws attending the march.

The head of France's 550,000-strong Jewish community, Roger Cukierman, the largest in Europe, said Hollande had promised that Jewish schools and synagogues would have extra protection, by the army if necessary, after the killings.

Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, whom analysts see receiving a boost in the polls due to the attacks, said her anti-immigrant party had been excluded from the Paris demonstration and would instead take part in regional marches.

In Germany, a rally against racism and xenophobia on Saturday drew tens of thousands of people in the eastern German city of Dresden, which has become the centre of anti-immigration protests organised by a new grassroots movement called PEGIDA.

A building of the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, which like many other publications has reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons, was the target of an arson attack and two suspects were arrested, police said on Sunday.

Twelve people were killed in Wednesday's initial attack on Charlie Hebdo, a journal know for satirizing religions and politicians. The attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the weekly for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.

Turkish and French sources said a woman hunted by French police as a suspect in the attacks had left France several days before the killings and is believed to be in Syria.

French police had launched in an intensive search for Hayat Boumeddiene, the 26-year-old partner of one of the attackers, describing her as "armed and dangerous".